Mumbai: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said the government had foregone more than Rs 1 lakh crore annually in tax revenues through excise duty cuts on petrol and diesel to shield consumers from fuel inflation triggered by the West Asia conflict, while defending the latest retail fuel price hikes as market-driven revisions by oil marketing companies responding to soaring global crude oil prices.
Petrol and diesel prices have been hiked by almost Rs 7.5 per litre in four installments since mid-May as oil companies moved to bridge the gap between cost and retail price that had widened due to surge in international oil prices.
